Closed heart surgery began in Côte d'Ivoire in the 1960s.During these years, the cardio-thoracic surgical diseases encountered in hospitals, particularly at the district hospital of Treichville, Abidjan, was characterized by trauma to the chest, pulmonary tuberculosis, non-tuberculous pulmonary infections, pulmonary tumors including lung cancer which was rare at that time, mediastinal tumors, chronic constrictive pericarditis and purulent pericarditis. Thoracic surgery had been introduced in our country by Drs. H. Merle, P. Delormas, A. Yangni-Angaté assisted by Drs. A. Sangaret, H. Ouedraogo and S. Diarra as shown in the scientific work published in the journal "Afrique Médicale, Numéro 1, 1re année, 1961" entitled "La chirurgie thoracique en Côte d'Ivoire", which stated: "We can say that Thoracic Surgery has now been established in our services at the Hospital of Treichville. Although it is not the daily work in operating room, it is nevertheless a discipline that no longer has the reputation of being exceptional for us. From these early years, this surgery got developed until Professor Ed. Bertrand's initiative in the 1970s. Head of Internal Medicine department at the University Hospital of Treichville, Professor Ed. Bertrand considered the creation of an Heart Institute in Abidjan; one of the main missions of that institute was to start an Open Heart Surgery(OHS) program. This achievement would make Cote d'Ivoire a pioneer country in West Africa for OHS. Fortunately, this idea was fully supported by Dr. Félix Houphouet-Boigny, a Medical Doctor and First President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire. This project entailed a need for training specialized medical human resources; thus, the College of Professors of the Faculty of Medicine of Abidjan, after Professor Ed Bertrand’s presentation, entrusted the management of the surgical team of this future heart institute to Professor A Yangni-Angate, Surgeon of University Hospitals, Head of General Surgery Department II at Treichville University Hospital. He therefore completed an advanced training course in cardiac surgery in the United States of America with Professors Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley in Houston (Texas, United States of America), two "world giants" in cardiac surgery. On his return from his American professorship, Prof. A. Yangni-Angaté surrounded himself with 3 associated cardiac surgeons: Prof. D. Métras from Marseille (France) and Doctors A. Ouezzin-Coulibaly and K. Ouattara from Cote d’Ivoire. While waiting for the opening of the Abidjan Heart Institute (AHI), cardiac surgery was performed in Professor A. Yangni-Angaté's General Surgery Department.

Finally, the inauguration of the AHI took place on November 24, 1976 in the presence of Dr. Félix Houphouet-Boigny, President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire and Professor Ed Bertrand, First Director of the AHI; two years later, on March 11, 1978, the first open heart surgery was successfully performed at the AHI . Since then, cardiothoracic surgery has been done regularly in Côte d'Ivoire, and entailed the setting up of a second Heart Institute in Bouaké, Côte d'Ivoire. Subsequently, a second wave of cardiothoracic surgeons trained in Côte d'Ivoire appeared in the 1980s; they were Drs. KH Yangni-Angaté, Y. Tanauh, S. Bakassa and M. Kangah.

After further training in Montreal, Canada, Drs. KH Yangni-Angaté and Y. Tanauh felt the need to set up an Ivorian society of thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons that would contribute to the further development of this discipline in our country. This idea, which had been left on the back burner, resurfaced more strongly in the 2000s in Professors KH Yangni-Angaté and Y. Tanauh’s minds; they were joined by Dr. F. Kendja. After this latency period, on July 12, 2008, in the presence of Pr. E. Aka-Danguy, Chairwoman of the session, the Ivorian Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons (ISTCVS) was born ; ISTCVS objectives are :(a) developing exchanges between thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons in Côte d'Ivoire; (b) jointly undertaking research work on cardiovascular and thoracic diseases encountered in Côte d'Ivoire; (c) promoting the practice of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery in Côte d'Ivoire and Africa; (d) developing exchanges with surgeons in this specialty who practice outside Côte d'Ivoire.